The Center for Allaying Health Disparities through Research and Education (CADRE) Project is a multidisciplinary effort to build a Central State University (CSU) research capacity that will ultimately contribute to the elimination of disparities between the health of the minority and majority populations in the United States. CSU, a public Historically Black College/University (HBCU) in Ohio will address the issue by increasing our capacity to conduct bio medical research through the following: 1) Developing a Biotechnology Laboratory; 2) Developing a Human Exercise and Performance Laboratory; 3) Building a first class animal facility; 4) Developing a Geospatial Database Center for Minority Health Disparities; and 4) Developing a Psychology Testing Laboratory. We will also conduct three independent research projects namely: 1) Cell & Extra cellular Matrix Interactions in Development of Tissue Engineered Cartilage; 2) Isolation and Characterization of Snake Venom Toxins to Combat Prostate Cancer in African-Americans; and 3) Closing the Health Disparity Gap: Impact of Health Empowerment Technologies on Elderly African American Health Provider Relationships. As an HBCU, CSU graduates have personal knowledge and experience of the disparities in health care. Specific Aims of the CADRE Project are: # of faculty conducting research; # of presentations made at-national meetings; Increase in research funding; # of publications hi peer reviewed journals; # of graduates from departments; # of students to enter graduate, professional or medical school; and # of research courses (# of students taking classes). Therefore, a critical goal of this project is to increase the number of CSU graduates who enter graduate and professional schools in health related fields that will have an impact in the minority health arena. As a part of our capacity building plan, we will collaborate with the University of Cincinnati to improve our administrative abilities in order to better manage our anticipated increased research efforts. Finally, we intend on increasing the capacity of the entire university faculty to solicit external funds by training and encouraging them to write proposals and to enhance the credentials of the faculty, and the university, by encouraging them to publish articles in peer reviewed journals.